KTR Kupplungstechnik Couplings for Railway and Traffic Engineering

With 50 years of experience in drive technology KTR Kupplungstechnik represent good connections. With more than 800 employees and 19 subsidiary companies as well as more than 90 distribution partners, KTR are represented in the industrial markets of all five continents today. As a leading manufacturer of couplings, clamping sets, torque limiters and hydraulic components, KTR is a partner for all those who want to set things in motion.

Drive systems for railways

As a supplier of ideas for drive systems KTR can give decisive contributions to make sure that rail vehicles are driving smoothly, at low cost and successfully over a long period: KTR shaft couplings allow space-saving and reliable solutions which are easy to assemble. On the one hand they extend the service life of the drive and on the other hand they increase the passengers’ comfort.

Having 35 years of experience in railway technology, KTR is a reliable partner for shaft coupling systems in the highly dynamic market of rail vehicles.

Every rail vehicle requires an individual drive and as a result every drive needs a separate coupling: As an example, two thirds of all German tramways are operated with ROTEX® couplings. These are becoming more and more numerous in the international market.

Coupling and overload systems for diesel-electric and cogwheel railways

For cogwheel railways and diesel-electric locomotives we would recommend a combination of coupling and overload system consisting of ROTEX® and RUFLEX®. The torque limiter integrated in the ROTEX® hub protects against torque peaks while increasing the service life of the adjacent components.

In contrast to that hollow shaft drives require torsionally rigid, backlash-free shaft connections. That is why the maintenance-free steel lamina coupling RIGIFLEX® is used in some locomotives, commuter trains and tramways. At 350 RPM auxiliary drives are no longer of minor importance

KTR basically manufacture products for railway and traffic engineering each according to the requirements of the specific application or the customer’s requests and specifications. Specifically adapted KTR couplings are not only used in the traction drives of tramsways and subways, tramcars and railway construction vehicles, but also in auxiliary drives, for example safety systems on doors and stairs, current collectors, point setting mechanisms and inclining technology.

For automatic door systems of rail vehicles the main criteria – even more important than comfort – is the safety of passengers. It goes without saying that the demands are high. No matter if it is a swing door, sliding door or a combination of swing and sliding door the highest reliability of the system is paramount.

Pneumatic drives and breaks

Current collectors and other applications, compressed air is required, which means compressors. Apart from that KTR help to make compressors more compact and make the operation more quiet.

KTR’s competences and creativity – revised, optimized and certified

KTR dispose of an in-house test center performing tests regarding service life and load on servo-hydraulic and mechanical test benches. The rotational symmetry of the couplings is inspected via 3D measuring devices.

Moreover, KTR provide their customers with an optimum net-work by the use of an up-to-date SAP scheduling and control system ensuring a quick and reliable delivery service. Every day more than 800 consignments leave the modern logistics center through four loading racks. The flow of goods is monitored via barcode scanning. The status of the consignments can be interrogated by the track and trace system at every time. Leading distribution partners ensure punctual delivery to every place in the world.

As one of the first companies in the industry of drive technology KTR was certified in accordance with ISO 9001 in 1993 already, followed by the certification in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14001 in 2008. The approval by all major classification companies is out of question for KTR. Based on these international standards KTR’s company processes are continuously optimized. Apart from that we are permanently aiming at improving the efficient use of energy and making all company processes environmentally compatible while saving resources.

The KTR engineers and our technical sales service support our customers already during the period of designing, finding optimum, low-cost solutions for special applications. KTR provide you with detailed service online: All details are available at www.ktr.com, including the company catalogue, 3D-CAD models and assembly instructions.